Sara Evans talks about music and family prior to her show at Honeywell

by Eric Stearley

eric@thepaperofwabash.com

Country music star Sara Evans is coming to the Honeywell Center Friday, Jan. 7., just two months before the release of her seventh studio album “Slow Me Down.”

One of seven children, Evans got an early start on her music career, singing in her family band from the age of 5. A Missouri native, Evans lived in Nashville for most of her career, releasing her first studio album Three Chords and the Truth in 1997. Her second album, No Place That Far, earned Evans her first Gold record, it’s title track climbing to the number one spot on the Hot Country Songs chart.

After a short stint on Dancing With The Stars, Evans filed for divorce in late 2006. She remarried in 2008 and currently resides outside Birmingham with her husband and three children.

The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress released at a report by the Office of the Surgeon General. According to the report, 151,000 Indiana youth will become smokers and die prematurely. This is 9.5 percent of teens ages 17 and younger, almost one of every 10 Hoosier kids. The new report calls on Americans to make the next generation tobacco free.

"We will continue to work to support policies that protect our community members from the dangers of tobacco use and secondhand smoke," said Dan Gray, director of the Wabash County Tobacco Free Coalition. "This report is a call to action that we must act now to prevent our children from becoming addicted to tobacco."

The new report updates estimates on the human and financial tolls of the cigarette smoking epidemic, finding that it kills close to half a million Americans a year and costs more than $289 billion a year in direct medical care and economic loss. In just the last 50 years, 20 million Americans have died because of smoking.

History Hunters holds monthly events hosted by the Wabash County Historical Museum, which allow people to come in and enjoy presentations on history by people who were actually a part of it. For the month of January, basketball legend Clyde Lovellette visited the History Hunters. Lovellette recounted events from his past about playing high school basketball in Indiana, fulfilling a prophecy at Kansas University, winning gold at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, success in the NBA and reaching kids here in Wabash County while working at White’s Family and Residential Services.

Lovellette entered the Wabash County Historical Museum the morning of his presentation, towering over everyone in attendance, standing 6 foot 9 inches tall. One can only imagine what it would be like facing a man with a presence like that on the basketball court, but Lovellette had a smile that let you know he was happy to share his story with the audience.

Lovellette began reminiscing about high school. As a freshman, he stood 6 foot 4, which was unusual back then, according to Lovellette.

“I don’t think there was a kid 6 foot when I was in high school,” Lovellette told The Paper.

With that type of size difference, Lovellette was an awkward teen. Basketball did not come naturally, even with his height.

Northfield High School graduate and current junior at Indiana University Mackenzie Wright recently received Indiana University’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Building Bridges Award for her work promoting equality, diversity, and empowerment on the university’s campus and in its host city of Bloomington.

The award is given to one undergraduate student each year. Wright was selected from more than 30,000 students to receive the award based on the following criteria:

• Demonstrated passion for change or improvement to fulfill the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Among other things, Wright was selected because of her volunteer work with Middle Way House, an organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic and sexual violence escape abusive situations and build a new life for themselves and their family. Wright was placed with the organization for her four years as an undergraduate through her Cox Engagement Scholarship.

Thursday Night Blues kicks off Jan. 30 with Dr. Duke Tumatoe and the Power Trio, the first of the series’ three shows. The Power Trio, made up of James Hill on keyboard, Joseph “G.I. Joe” Maddox on drums, and A.J. Jones on bass, will join Duke on stage at 7:30 p.m.

Growing up in Chicago in the 1950s, Duke grew up listening to blues. At 10, he started playing drums, and when he was 13, he heard Muddy Waters for the first time.

“He was rehearsing in a nightclub and I was out in the alley with a friend of mine,” said Duke “I was so moved, I wanted my whole life to be able to be as invested in the music as he was. He would be in the room playing the song, but he was not in the room at all. He was someplace else.”

This was perhaps the single most influential experience in Duke’s early life.

“I don’t have the same voice he had and I don’t approach the guitar the same way he did, but the essence of his energy affected me and was one of the prime motivating things in my career.”

Shortly after, he picked up guitar. He knew that his life would be music, and to this day, hasn’t held a “real job” outside of his music.

“It’s the kind of music I grew up listening to,” said Duke. “That’s what I grew up playing and that’s what I dedicated my life to without even thinking about it.”

Joel Harman, D.C., recently took the reins at Manchester Family Chiropractic, located at 110 N. Walnut St., following the retirement of former owner Dr. David Rodriguez. Dr. Harman practices the same techniques as his predecessor, but he also incorporates a more multidisciplinary approach when it comes to patient care.

Although he grew up in a family where visits to the chiropractor were the norm, and he himself relied on a chiropractor’s services multiple times, Dr. Harman didn’t have an interest in a career in chiropractics until high school.

“My chiropractor back home was very sports oriented, and he was even the team physician for a lot of sports teams in the area,” Harman said. “During my junior year of basketball I suffered a very severe ankle injury. I did the rehab with my physical therapist for 6-8 weeks and at that time it was feeling okay and I could stand on it, but as far as mobility it was very limited. My chiropractor then asked me to let him adjust my ankle.

In mid-November, John Boardman was mowing his lawn when he noticed a visitor near his home. The visitor was about 35 pounds, tan in color, and what John believed to be a cocker spaniel. John’s cousin, who lives on Shady Lane Drive, had seen the visitor before, but was never able to get very close. The little guy stuck around, often hanging out near the crest of a hill at the edge of the Boardman property.

“I called the animal shelter after a few days,” said John. They had gotten calls about this dog, but they couldn’t get close enough to catch it after trying several times. The dog was scared of everything and everybody, and he never got within 100 feet of a person.”

Animals roaming around the south side of town was not unusual according to John, who recounted multiple run-ins with stray cats, for which he keeps a cage in the basement. Something about this little dog, however, stuck with John and his wife Marilyn. They could tell he was wearing a collar, and they knew someone must be wondering where their pet was.